Bobby Roth wants to tell a story.
Attending the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1960s, when talk of the draft and the Vietnam war loomed over the conversations of college students,
‘Berkeley’What: “Berkeley,” an autobiographical film about the culture director Bobby Roth experienced as a UC Berkeley student in the 1960s, playing at the Eugene International Film Festival. Who: Directed by Bobby Roth, who has created dozens of films throughout his career. He also works on several mainstream TV shows, including “Prison Break,” “Lost” and “Without a Trace.” Where to watch it: Regal Valley River Center Stadium 15, Theater 12 When to watch it: Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. |
Roth had the experience of a lifetime.
He entered college as a conservative young man, unaware of how a culture of sex, music, drugs and irreverent political activism would change his identity – forever. He lived in the midst of an anti-war movement.
Now, nearly 40 years later, Roth catalogues the culture of his youth; the curious, liberal Berkeley students who had their youthful naiveté to lose and the world to gain.
“Berkeley” the film is a autobiographical adaptation of Roth’s collegehood and the pressures students felt about the war and the college experience of his son, who graduated from the San Francisco Bay area university last May.
“I wanted to weave the two generations of being in Berkeley for my generation and my son’s,” said Roth, who spoke from Dallas, Texas, where he films his tenth episode of FOX’s “Prison Break.” “I thought it would be inspiring for them to see the experience of going there and avoiding the draft. I want young people today to wish they had been there.”
College students today seem demoralized, apathetic toward social activism, Roth said.
“Berkeley” is the final film in a trilogy of his life, where Roth tries to bring relevance to his life experiences through film.
Roth also directs mainstream television such as “Without a Trace” and “Lost” as well as independent films.
Many Hollywood directors feel the need to forfeit their creativity and create a film that appeals to the masses, but Roth does quite the opposite. When he directs episodes of network television, his directing reaches millions of viewers. And when he creates an artsy, independent film, he thinks he does the same.
“Even an arthouse film still can reach millions of people,” Roth said. “If a story’s interesting it’s going to be relevant to a large group.”
As an art form, Roth said he hopes film creativity doesn’t disappear; however, he challenged that film was better in the 1970s.
“I would hate to see it go,” Roth said. “There’s nothing quite like going to the movies.”
Roth wanted to write novels when he was young and his passion for storytelling fuels his films; most of the stories he begins to write as novels eventually become movies.
With the advent of technology, films have become much more accessible to the Generation Y culture. Roth recently sat on an airplane a few rows behind someone who watched an episode of “Prison Break” he directed on his iPhone.
“I was sitting watching someone view my work three rows ahead on a screen that’s four inches,” said Roth, who begins filming his second “Lost” episode this November. “It’s no longer the movie house experience. It really is interesting to see the impact of technology on the viewer.”
More than technology, however, Roth worries about the kind of entertainment people watch in this country, questioning whether American television “is dumbing people as opposed to stimulating them. I really enjoy doing ‘Prison Break,’ but I don’t know if it is enriching the human condition.”
“I would just like to be working on things that are enriching peoples’ lives,” Roth said.
[email protected]